(Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, 30 April, 2020, Trinidad and Tobago)
– The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted agriculture value chains,
threatening food security and upending livelihoods of millions of people
around the globe. Up to April 24, 2020 there were collectively more
than 1,000 confirmed cases in the CARICOM region. To contain the virus
and safeguard the livelihoods of the population, regional governments
have instituted a series of policy measures. The fallout from these have
impacted the region’s agriculture sector leading to surpluses of
produce on farmers’ hands, limited intra-regional trade and
unemployment.

While food supplies in the Caribbean are presently stable, Barton
Clarke, CARDI’s Executive Director says “an extended period of this
crisis coupled with the ongoing drought and the predicted active 2020
hurricane season will put the region’s agri food supply chains on a
precarious footing”. “The Caribbean must set about producing its own
food, promoting healthy food consumption and look towards import
substitution as viable solutions towards ensuring food security in these
uncertain times,” Clarke continued.

CARDI has developed a comprehensive plan that is structured to minimise any future disruptions to Agri-food supply chains. Short term measures are focused on providing the critical support needed to maintain the integrity of the food supply chains while medium to long term measures address long term food security from the perspectives of increased production,reduced reliance on imports and resilience.

Immediately the Institute has ramped up the production of planting
material for a variety of crops including grain legumes, corn, coconut,
cassava, hot pepper and sweet potato across member states. These would
be made available to commercial producers and home gardeners. In Antigua
and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis, CARDI is also supporting nationaldrives to increase production to meet the shortfall of fresh produce.

The Caribbean agriculture sector has been dealt a severe blow by
extreme weather events over the last few years. These crises coupled
with the prevalence of drought conditions have thwarted the rebuilding
efforts in many countries. With the hurricane season just one month away
the agriculture sector must be positioned to restart production with
immediacy should any of the 18 predicted hurricanes for 2020 hit the
Caribbean. CARDI is leveraging its partnerships with Tissue Culture Labs
in Jamaica and St Vincent and the Grenadines in particular to collect
and conserve both seed and vegetative planting material for crops of
priority importance to the Region. From these collections quality
planting material will be supplied to farmers to restart production.
This intervention will result in minimal disruptions to food supply
chains.

As part of the Institute’s resilience strategy, CARDI will continue
to evaluate, train and sensitise stakeholders on modern agricultural
practices. Research is showing that the use of hydroponics, vertical
farming, shade houses and container systems can be more productive and
offer greater resilience over traditional systems.

CARDI will also continue to evaluate and identify resilient high yielding varieties for commercially important crops.

Towards promoting the use and consumption of local foods, CARDI will
work with partners to train agro processors on value added product
development, good manufacturing processes and health and safety. This
will not only extend the shelf life of produce beyond their marketingseason but will also increase the profit margins to processors and farmers.These interventions will be complemented by the deployment of ICT enabled data collection and analytical tools.

A robust knowledge management system and resource mobilisation drive
will also be pursued to help in realising the objectives of increased
production, development of a resilient sector, change in behaviours,
reduced food imports to the Caribbean and better decision making.

For more information, please contactOffice of the Executive Director (CARDI) – executive@cardi.org